


Captive Audience

by chilly_flame



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Trapped in an elevator, maybe next time, sorry there is no smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-06-17
Packaged: 2017-12-15 05:40:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/845948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chilly_flame/pseuds/chilly_flame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt by flashesoflightunsheen: trapped in an elevator after an argument?<br/>Post-curse breaking S2ish, if Emma hadn't vanished into the hat. Regina is off the magical sauce per Henry's request.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Captive Audience

**Author's Note:**

> I seem to have forgotten how to write anything less than a thousand words, and this one is a little disjointed. Must practice more, but at least I managed to wrap it up. Hopefully I'll be able to produce more shorts in the next few weeks. Super special thanks to Xander for the beta. Also, I'm so grateful to everyone who sent in ideas! I've got a few thoughts simmering, and while I won't be able to fill every prompt, I so appreciate all the good energy from everyone. Thanks very much!

Regina hears footsteps coming closer; she stabs the “close doors” button on the panel. It doesn't work. A hand jams between the doors, and instantly they open with a jolt. Regina steps back, inhaling through her nose as Emma *fucking* Swan invades her space. Again.

 

“You couldn't wait for the next one?” Regina snaps.

 

“No, I couldn't. You should have held the doors. I want to finish this conversation.”

 

 _It's not a conversation, it's an argument._ Regina purses her lips and turns away to face the wall. 

 

“Jesus, Regina, you really are a bitch sometimes,” Emma says. She snorts. “What am I talking about, you're a bitch most of the time.”

 

Unwilling to reward her by paying a single iota of attention to her quip, Regina continues to stare at the wall. 

 

“The last few weeks I really thought you'd changed, that we had some--”

 

There's a jerk faint enough to make Regina wonder if she's imagining things, until she realizes that no, the elevator is not moving, and yes, she's stuck in this small box with her nemesis. Well, perhaps not nemesis. Emma Swan is, after all, the birth mother of her child. She's also quite pretty with all that princess hair falling around her shoulders. On second thought, maybe she's not pretty. Beautiful, perhaps. Yes, very beautiful. Emma Swan also has exceptionally kissable lips. The rest of her is probably kissable too, not that Regina's gotten very far; they tend to be interrupted by one person or another when things start to get hot and heavy. Then again, they've only kissed three times, and one of the reasons why Regina's got her serious bitch on today is that the most recent of those kisses took place yesterday, when Snow nearly caught them in the shabby apartment all the Charmings share. In they split second during which they had to separate, Emma had looked more than just anxious. She looked horrified.

 

So much for the vague notion that they might someday have more than the occasional clandestine kiss. If the thought of being caught was so awful, Regina might as well nip this in the bud. Emma had already stolen the most important thing in her life: Henry. She wouldn't let her steal her dignity too. No one should be embarrassed to be caught kissing Regina Mills, even if she was the Evil Queen. 

 

“Regina, I said look at me!” Emma says, and Regina feels a tug on her shoulder that turns into a shove. “Are you even listening?”

 

Regina steels herself, and speaks the truth. “No.”

 

“You'd better start, otherwise we might never get out of here.” Emma blows a strand of hair away from her mouth and holds her phone up in the air. “Cell service in this town sucks. You ever think about looking into that?”

 

Regina sneers. “I'm no longer the mayor, dear. I suggest you ask _your mother_.”

 

Emma gives her the side eye. “My mother's on my shit list right now, so no thanks.”

 

That brings Regina up short. “And why, praytell, would that be?”

 

Emma reaches forward and yanks Regina's jacket open, and for a moment, Regina feels a flash of heat warm her cheeks. But Emma isn't interested in ripping off her clothes; she nabs the phone from the inside pocket, where she'd slipped it minutes ago, and holds it up too. “No service for you either. Open that little door on the panel.”

 

Regina just stares at her. Emma rolls her eyes and pushes her aside. Regina doesn't like all this “handling,” but still she allows Emma to reach into the wall and yank out the emergency phone. “Hello? Hello?” Emma waits none too patiently and catches Regina's eye. “Why the hell do you think I want to wring Snow's neck? And stop looking at me like you hate me. You're the worst bullshit artist of all time.”

 

“I suggest you stop bothering me, Miss Swan, and figure out how to get us--”

 

“Can the Miss Swan thing, will ya?” Emma's attention is caught by a voice on the other end of the phone line. “Hey, who is this?” A few seconds pass. “Dopey, I'm in the elevator in the town hall, and I'm stuck... Yes, this is Emma. Regina's here too...No, she's not trying anything...” At that, Emma peers at Regina from the corner of her eye, and Regina feels that little frisson of energy at the base of her spine. She's not sure if it's magical or sexual. Or both. “Yeah, we'll wait. She won't use magic, she promised the kid... No, we're not going to starve, it's only been like, one minute.” She moves the phone away from her mouth. “You don't have to pee, do you, Queenie?”

 

Regina rolls her eyes and turns away again. “You're disgusting.” Besides that, she'd asked her to stop using that nickname over and over, to no avail. 

 

“We're okay for the moment, Dope. Just hurry up, I think the building a/c's on the fritz. It's kind of warm in here.”

 

The second she says it, Regina realizes Emma is correct. The elevator is warm, and getting warmer. Regina's jacket suddenly seems like an oven, but she won't give Emma the satisfaction of acknowledging her. 

 

“They're on their way. Might be a few minutes, so get comfortable.” Regina hears the sound of pleather hitting the floor. She doesn't think about the white tank top that Emma's wearing, one that shows the smooth skin of her shoulders, the sharp line of her collarbone. “Now, since we're here, this is the perfect time to finish our conversation.”

 

 _It's not a conversation, it's an argument_ , Regina thinks again. “No, thank you.”

 

“Fortunately, you don't get a choice. I've got a captive audience, and I'll have my say whether you like it or not.”

 

“Not.” 

 

“What has your panties in a wad anyway? I thought we were, you know, getting along pretty good lately.” 

 

Regina closes her eyes, both irritated at her syntax and turned on by the thought of the way they _get along_. “You were mistaken.”

 

“Since when?”

 

“Since right now,” Regina says, hoping to shut Emma down. 

 

“Listen, Regina, I came here today to say hi, and find out when we might be able to get together, or... something. And you bite my head off first thing and start picking a fight over something as inconsequential as what Henry eats for breakfast at my place, and now you're pretending like there's nothing going on between us--”

 

“Henry shouldn't be eating so much sugar in the mornings, it's not inconsequential--”

 

“Regina, shut up for once in your life, okay?” Emma shouts. The sound is loud in the elevator bouncing off the walls and startling Regina into silence. “I want to know why you're angry. It's not because of cereal.” There is a pause, and Regina can hear the sound of her own heart, thudding heavily in her ears. “Please tell me.”

 

Regina continues to face the wall, because it's easier that way. “I don't want you to kiss me anymore.”

 

“You're fooling yourself if you think our kissing isn't mutual,” Emma mumbles, and Regina isn't surprised at that.

 

“Regardless. We're done doing that.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because--” Regina has trouble coming up with a good explanation that doesn't leave her vulnerable. She can't very well say _because you won't tell your mommy about me_ or _you're ashamed of me_ , so instead she just swallows the thought. “It's better this way. Besides, I don't care about you.”

 

Emma doesn't react, at least that Regina can tell, until she grabs her (again) and yanks her elbow till they're facing each other. “Say that to my face.”

 

“I said it's better this way,” Regina repeats, willing herself to appear honest. “I don't care about you.”

 

Emma takes a deep breath, and her face relaxes. Then she leans in and kisses her, pressing Regina flat against the cool wall of the elevator. Regina is so surprised, so greedy for the taste of her mouth, that she can't even react other than to kiss back. When Emma's tongue flicks against hers, Regina pulls away. “Stop.”

 

“Okay,” Emma says, but she doesn't pull away. Instead she wraps her arms around Regina's waist and puts her head on Regina's shoulder. It's unpleasantly comfortable to be held like this.

 

“Stop this, Emma.”

 

“What happened to 'Miss Swan'?” Emma breathes, and Regina feels the traitorous goosebumps rise up along her neck, sending a chill down her spine. 

 

“I don't like this.”

 

“Tell me why you're angry,” Emma says.

 

“No.”

 

“I won't let go till you do.”

 

“Your friends will be here shortly. We'll be discovered in this compromising position. Won't that be humiliating? Get off me,” Regina says, and finds the strength to push her away.

 

“What do you mean, humiliating?”

 

Regina firms her lips and does not open them again. She listens intently for the sound of the dwarves in the building, hopefully fixing the elevator. She hears nothing.

 

“Oh,” Emma says, “Shit, are you mad that I shoved you away when we almost got caught by Snow yesterday?”

 

Regina doesn't answer.

 

“I'm not humiliated by you, or embarrassed, or uncertain about this. I mean, I am nervous, because you're you, and I'm me, and I don't exactly do, you know, relationships. But I'm not really up for running anymore. Certainly not from you.” That face, that _horrible_ face that Emma made yesterday reappears. “But I do not want to be caught making out by my parents. That's just gross.” Her face contorts even further. “And I caught Snow and David in bed last week and I am just... grossed out. A lot.” 

 

Regina can't help but make a face in return. “What do you mean?”

 

Emma closes her eyes. “They were in bed, and they were naked, and I walked in, and I don't want to see that kind of thing, ever? Because scarred for life.” She shakes her head. “I get that they love each other and will always find each other but I'm already gagging over that, and they need to either get a place of their own or put a tie on the door or something. Or I could move, I guess, but I didn't want to change things up right now. I like the way they're going. With you. Even if you pick stupid fights with me over nothing.”

 

Regina stiffens. “It wasn't nothing.”

 

“It's nothing to me. I wouldn't mind people knowing about... this,” Emma says, motioning at the space between them. “People are getting over the whole curse thing, and you've done some good stuff lately. And Henry's come around.” The “face” makes a brief appearance before vanishing again. “I just don't want the concept of sex and parents to exist in the same universe. My universe.” Emma lifts an eyebrow and inches closer. “Now, the concept of sex and you definitely exist in my universe. Or at least I want them to. If you do.”

 

Regina lifts her chin, backing up until she bumps into the opposite wall, and Emma is right there, staring. Her gaze is intense. Regina stares right back, and the air between them crackles with energy and magic and sex. “So if we decide to do... this... you won't hide it?”

 

Emma puts a hand on the wall of the elevator right next to Regina's head. “Well, I figure most of it will take place behind closed doors, but otherwise, no, I won't hide it.”

 

“Oh,” Regina replies weakly. She watches Emma's lips, full and wet. “Well, fine,” she manages, and caving, she grabs Emma's white tank and pulls it toward her. They're in each other's arms, and Emma's kiss is more than she can ever remember wanting or needing; it makes her feel hope and safety and desire all at once. The hum that Emma releases deep in her throat is like a purr, and it makes Regina's knees give out just a little bit until they're both plastered against the wall. Emma drags the jacket off Regina's shoulders and down her arms, pulls her shirt out of her trousers and runs her hot hands along her back. The heat of the elevator has just transformed into an inferno. Regina drops her head against metal and lets Emma drag her teeth down her throat. “I want—I want this--”

 

Emma leans down and pulls one of Regina's knees up to wrap around her waist. “This isn't how I--” she begins before getting lost in the taste of Regina's skin once more, as if she just can't think about anything else. Regina reaches for Emma's white shirt again, clawing at it until a noisy clanking sound rings out, startling them both. “Oh, you have gotta be kidding me,” Emma says, gritting her teeth, and before they even consider separating, the elevator doors open.

 

A second goes by as they all gape at each other.

 

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Snow says aloud, and Regina immediately identifies three of the dwarves, Granny, and Henry of all people on the other side. Regina stands up straighter, and the two of them don't push each other away, but try to subtly adjust their clothing. At least no skin (for the most part) was visible, but how is she going to explain to her son that--

 

“Gross!” Henry says covering his eyes. “Oh my gosh, gross!” 

 

“Sorry, kid,” Emma says, picking up her own jacket from the floor, followed by Regina's. “Next time a little warning would be nice,” she says to Dopey, who looks guilty enough for Regina's taste. Granny, on the other hand, appears unsurprised, and almost a little pleased with herself. 

 

“What are you doing with my daughter?” Snow says, stepping forward angrily.

 

“I think that's obvious,” Granny says with a dirty little grin, turning and pulling Henry along with her. “Let your mothers alone for a few minutes, Henry. And the rest of you. Including you, Snow.”

 

Glancing at Emma, Regina sees the matching surprise at Granny's acceptance. 

 

“I don't want this,” Snow says, and Regina sees her hand raising as if to shake her finger in Regina's face. Regina feels like smacking her. 

 

“Snow!” Granny calls from down the hall. “Come on, there will be plenty of time to complain later.”

 

Snow, for once, does as she's told, but not before releasing another enraged huff. 

 

Emma steps out of the elevator, holding out a hand. “Coming?”

 

Regina smirks. “Not yet,” she says, and enjoys the sly tilt of Emma's smile. “But hopefully you won't make me wait too long.”

 

“Hopefully is right,” Emma says. “So much for not getting caught by my mother,” she adds, “And poor Henry. We probably scarred him too. I guess it's gross for everyone to see their parents kissing.”

 

“At least we weren't naked,” Regina reasons. Not that it makes her feel better, until she thinks about the way Emma called them both _parents_.

 

“True. Although I really want to see you naked. And I don't want anyone else around.”

 

Biting her lip, Regina decides to say what she means. “I want to be with you. Soon.”

 

Emma nods just as they come to the door to the town hall. She pauses, and Regina waits. She's rewarded with another kiss. “Soon.”


End file.
